Musharraf flees after court orders arrest

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Last Updated: Thu, Apr 18, 2013 07:47 hrs

Islamabad: Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf Thursday made a dramatic escape from the Islamabad High Court Thursday after the court ordered his arrest in the case related to the detention of senior judges in 2007.

The Islamabad High Court dismissed Musharraf's interim bail extension plea and ordered his arrest in a case related to the confinement of judges in 2007, Geo News reported.

Accompanied by his guards, Musharraf, 69, appeared before the court to seek an extension in his bail. However, the court dismissed his plea and ordered his arrest.

The former president lost no time in fleeing from the court premises in a black, bullet-proof SUV with tinted glasses. Escorted by his bodyguards, Musharraf zoomed out of the court premises as security personnel looked on helplessly and TV cameras whirred away.

The former army chief and president, who had returned to Pakistan last month after four years of self-imposed exile, later reached his farmhouse in Chak Shahzad on the outskirts of Islamabad, where he is expected to be arrested, police said.

Musharraf's spokesperson Reza Bukhari told journalists that he was "under protection from the Pakistan government".

Musharraf, he said, would follow all the rules of law and had not fled the court. He was escorted by the Pakistani security establishment, Bukhari said, adding that the court had not acted with wisdom.

"I have spoken to him since he returned from the court. He will pursue the legal channel in front of him. There is an appeal process...," Bukhari was quoted as saying.

In the previous hearing, the high court had extended Musharraf's interim bail till April 18.

Dawn said the case was based on an FIR against the retired general registered in Aug 11, 2009 on the complaint of Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam Ghumman, an advocate.

He had asked the police to initiate legal proceedings against Musharraf for detaining over 60 judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, after proclamation of a state of emergency in the country Nov 3, 2007.

Xinhua recalled that the judges had refused to take oath under his Provincial Constitutional Order.

A lower court had previously issued arrest warrant for Musharraf as he failed to appear before the court despite several orders.

He faces other legal cases, including treason charges for imposing emergency rule, the 2007 assassination of former Premier Benazir Bhutto and the killing of a Baloch leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006.

Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999 and resigned in August 2008 to avoid impeachment by the parliament, has denied all the charges and vowed to defend himself in courts.

He returned to Pakistan after over four years of self-imposed exile in Britain and the UAE to lead his All Pakistan Muslim League in the May 11 parliamentary elections. But all four applications to contest the polls, including from Islamabad, have been rejected by the Election Commission.

Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement, that the former military ruler's escape from the court "underscores his disregard for due legal process and indicates his assumption that as a former army chief and military dictator he can evade accountability for abuses".

"It is essential that Pakistan's military authorities which are protecting the former dictator comply with the Islamabad High Court's orders and ensure that he presents himself for arrest," the statement added.

It said that "continued military protection for General Musharraf will make a mockery of claims that Pakistan's armed forces support the rule of law and bring the military further disrepute that it can ill afford".